Hobart correspondent for Fairfax Media

The emu-wren, with its delicate filagreed tail, would go. So too would the master of disguise, the ground parrot - victims of increased fire in Australia's south-east.

And the palm cockatoo could disappear from its tropical toehold.

They are among 396 native birds likely to suffer as a result of climate change, according to the first analysis of global warming's effects on Australian birds.

Of 1232 Australian bird species and subspecies, one-quarter would do badly when exposed to the effects of climate change later this century, the report finds.

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It calls for funds now, for what would eventually be a $940 million program to safeguard birds from Cape York to Tasmania.

''A billion dollars over 50 years for conserving Australia's birds in the face of climate change is paltry compared to the cost of biodiversity loss,'' the report states.

The report used a median of 18 climate models to identify changes to the ''climate space'' of the birds - rainfall, temperature and food availability.

Most at risk are birds of the northern tropics, which may lose their already tenuous rainforest habitat.

Changes to inshore marine food supplies are particularly likely to strike species hard off the NSW coast and may drastically change the habitat of endemic Norfolk and Lord Howe island birds.

The report, Climate Change Adaptation Strategies for Australian Birds, found sea level rises will push other shorebirds, such as the pied oystercatcher and beach stone-curlew, out of nesting space when they are already under pressure from introduced predators and human use of the coasts.

Report co-author Glenn Ehmke said the findings stood as a template for other groups of Australian fauna, such as mammals or reptiles.

Lead author Stephen Garnett, of Charles Darwin University, laid out a roadmap for bird protection, including immediate action to identify refuges within the landscapes of highly exposed species.

These might be mountains and rivers, which could buffer birds from extremes of temperature and fire. There could also be greater protection of beaches and wetlands that act as ''stepping stones'' for migratory shorebirds.

''In most cases, doing more of what we do at the moment, such as fire management, weed and feral animal control and, for marine birds, controls on fishing, will be the best approach to helping Australian birds cope with climate change," Professor Garnett said.

Samantha Vine, conservation manager at BirdLife Australia, said that, without action, more intensive and costly breeding programs may have to be mounted.

''If we do nothing, many [birds] will simply slip away and be lost forever,'' she said.